BP oil spill prompts class action lawsuits on behalf of fishermen, businesses, and home owners. If you are affected, please complete the form for a free legal review.

Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. lawyers, together with a consortium of law firms, have filed lawsuits in response to British Petroleum’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, which is of such magnitude it is now considered the nation’s worst environmental disaster.

Recently, noted environmental advocate Erin Brockovich traveled to the Gulf with our attorneys, including the States of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, to meet with the people impacted by the oil spill and to discuss with them how they have been affected and will be impacted in the future.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has called it “a spill of national significance,” with the Coast Guard estimating it at 5,000 barrels a day, or more than 200,000 gallons of oil spilling into the ocean daily.

“The total environmental impact of this oil spill hasn’t yet been realized but it has already caused dangerous contamination and throttled business and commercial fishing along the Coast,” said Robin Greenwald, head of the Environmental and Toxic Torts unit of Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. “We don’t know how far this contamination will travel or how many families will lose their main source of income from this oil slick, but we know all too well that many more people’s livelihoods will be hurt and properties damaged before this spill is under control.”

The gulf oil spill, precipitated by an offshore drilling rig, which created an explosion and fire has left 11 workers dead. It has intensified, begun to spread and is threatening fisheries, as well as the property of home owners and businesses along the Gulf coast.

Restaurants along the coast are experiencing considerable loss of business as tourists travel elsewhere on vacation. Waitstaff are being laid off or suffering deep cuts in hours–another ripple effect of the oil spill. The lawyers of our firm are currently speaking with waitresses who can no longer pay their rents; small-business owners who once sold fishing supplies to now unemployed fishermen; owners of rental apartments that remain vacant, and owners of businesses related to tourism–even tour guides who have experienced a severe reduction in ticket sales.

Oil spill class action lawsuits The environmental attorneys of Weitz & Luxenberg would like to help these people recover monetary losses due to the Gulf oil spill. Many have opted to join our class action lawsuit.

Our complaints, filed by a consortium of lawyers against BP, Halliburton, Cameron and other parties, seek to recover damages suffered by our clients as a result of the oil spill. The lawsuits allege, in part, that Defendants knew of the dangers associated with deep-water drilling and failed to take appropriate measures to prevent damages to our clients and the environment in which they live and work.

The fast-moving oil slick has already or is threatening to devastate marine and coast environments, and estuarine areas of Florida, Mississippi and Alabama, which are used for fishing and to earn a livelihood. Some of the plaintiffs in our lawsuits are owners of wholesale and retail seafood businesses; others are owners of commercial fisheries. All their livelihoods are now at risk as a result of the spill. Our firm currently represents over 500 fishermen in a class action lawsuit.

The Gulf region accounts for about a fifth of total U.S. commercial seafood production and nearly three quarters of the nation’s shrimp output, while nearly a third of all marine recreational fishing trips take place on Gulf waters, according to the Fisheries Service of the NOAA.

Lawsuit options for those affected by the oil spill Fishermen, property and business owners, and others affected by the oil spill may discuss their situation and get a free lawsuit review by completing the form.